Hamburgers

So I admit to often buying those pre-formed frozen hamburger patties. They’re so convenient to have around: just throw them on the grill still frozen, slice up some pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, heat up a can of beans–and there’s dinner! But the meat is somewhat tasteless I think. Or so high in fat the patties shrink down to 1/3 their initial size.

And forming regular ground beef into patties without anything extra seems to produce good but crumbly patties that fall apart on the grill. So I’ve fallen back to my mom’s old method, which is basically pretty darn near her old meatloaf recipe, except for the horseradish.

I use my big mixer to do this. Then I talk the visiting neighbor into actually making the patties because I hate that feeling of grease on my hands. The little Tupperware hamburger mold thing works well if there aren’t any neighbors handy, but makes the patties too small for my taste. If all else fails, let the kids do this part. Slice up the condiments: here they include tomatoes, onions (preferably red ones), cheese, pickles, and lettuce.

The grill should be preheated. My dad’s old rule was 10 minutes on one side, I think, then flip for just barely a minute. He swears that makes them moister. Of course, it all depends upon how thick your patties are.